• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.190-194
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• 2005

In our search for monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors from natural resources, we found that the methanol extract of the roots of Sophora flavescens showed an inhibitory effect on mouse brain monoamine oxidase (MAO). Bioactivity-guided isolation of the extract yielded two known flavonoids, formononetin (1) and kushenol F (2), as active compounds along with three inactive compounds, oxymatrine (3), trifolirhizin (4), and ${\beta}$-sitosterol (5). Formononetin (1) and kushenol F (2) showed significant inhibitory effects on MAO in a dose-dependent manner with $IC_{50}$ values of 13.2 and $69.9\;{\mu}M$, respectively. Formononetin (1) showed a slightly more potent inhibitory effect against MAO-B ($IC_{50}:\;11.0\;{\mu}M$) than MAO-A ($IC_{50}:\;21.2\;{\mu}M$). Kushenol F (2) also preferentially inhibited the MAO-B activity than MAO-A activity with the $IC_{50}$ values of 63.1 and $103.7\;{\mu}M$, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.672-679
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• 1998

The ethanol extract and its chloroform fraction of Sophora flavescens Ait. exhibited growth inhibition on some food poisoning bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the above extracts were $50{\sim}500\;ppm$ and below 50 ppm Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC 19111, 19112, 19113, 19114, 15313). By silica gel column chromatography twice, antimicrobial active compound S-10-6 was isolated from chloroform fraction of Sophora flavescens Ait. The fraction S-10-6 showed strong growth inhibition at 10 ppm on 5 strains of L. monocytogenes, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 14593 and Staphylococcus aureus KFCC 11764 but Esherichia coli ATCC 25922 was not inhibited at 100 ppm and also confirmed bactericidal effect at 30 and 50 ppm on 5 strains of L. monocytogenes. The antimicrobial compound S-10-6 was identified as kushenol F, a kind of flavanone compound, by EI/MS, $^1H-NMR\;and\;^{13}C-NMR$.